Agitator for oil-well cavities



(No Model.)

T. H.5GALLAGHER. AGITATOR FOR OIL WELL-GAVITIES.

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PATENT OFFICE.

- THOMS H. GALLAGHER, OF OLEAN, NEW YORK.

AGITATOR FOR OIL-WELL CAVITIES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 498,164, dated May 23,1893.

Application led January 21, 1893. Serial No. 459.103. (No model.) A

T all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS I-I. GALLAGHER,

of Olean, in the county of Oattaraugus andi State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Agitators for Oil-WellCavities, of which the following is a specificais the continuation ofthe well below thisA blasted cavity. The blast forms in the cavity alarge quantity of comminuted rock and zo sand which must be taken out inorder that the well may be worked advantageously. lf allowed to remainit would clog up the channels, tubing and working barrels, andnecessitate the pulling of the same out of the well whichis expensive.Heretofore this cleaning out of the sand has been done in the followingway. The same tools used to drill the well were also used to clean itout. The tool Awas run down into the well and the limited 3o quantity ofsand which happened to be in the pocket was removed by the bailer orsand pump, while the larger bulk which remained in the large cavityoutside of the pocket was not disturbed, but the operator was obliged towait until the sand slowly filled into the pocket from the cavity again,which would take two or three days before there would be sufficientcollected to justify putting the tools into the well again. In this wayweeks werel 4o required to clean awell of the sand, and even then itmight soon have to be cleaned again,

This entails large delay, expense, and loss of oil, and in old wellsalso necessitates the rebuilding of the derrick, as a derrick that hasstood for two or three years is not strong enough to hold a string ofdrilling tools, and

in old wells also a boiler has to be set up near the well again. Y

My invention comprises means for thrash- 5o ing or agitating the largeoil well cavity so as -tioned to clean out all the sand at once yassoonas the well is blasted, thus avoiding the expense. delay, anddifficulties hereinbefore men- Figure l is a side elevation ot thedevice. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section ot' the samein the well, andFig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken at right angles to Fig. 2.

In the drawings A represents one or more hollow stems closed at bothends and formed 6o of a middle tube with solid screw couplings at itsends. To the lower end of these hollow stems are screwed the workingsections B CD of my invention. This corresponds in a measure to theconstruction of an ordinary drilljar in that it is composed in part oftwo links B and D which are coupled together to slide the one into theother by reason of their parallel sides. In between the two ysides ofthe upper link section B there is hung upon a bolt 7o Eat the top a pairof radially swinging arms C O which normally lie in vertical position invthe slots between the two sides of the upper link section B. These armshave round disk shaped heads c where the bolt passes through, so thatthey may swing in true vertical planes. The lower one D of the linksections is designed to screw to one or more hollow sections A whichrest upon the 'bottom `ot' the well and with the link D'act as astationary 8o ram. The upper end of link D is directly in the line ofthe arms C C, which upper end is slightly pointed so that as the upperlink section with the arms descend, the latter strike against the upperend of stationary link D and 8 5 are thrown violently out in a radialswing as shown in dotted lines Fig. 2 and penetrate the blasted cavitytheir full length, so that when the upper link vsection is' churned upand down by the working of its connections 9o from the top of the wellthese arms C C thrash about in the blasted cavity like Iiail arms andagitate the sand and fluid matter in said cavity, causing the sand topass at once into the pocket or bottom end of the well hole where 9 5 itcan be taken out continuously by the sand pump without delay, and, when,through the agency of this device, all the sand in the blasted cavityhas thus been removed, the well can be uninterruptedly pumped of its oilroo without having to stop to clean it, and without the delay, expense,and trouble which this subsequent cleaning involves.

The object in making the stems A hollow is to render them light and easyto handle, which is a very great advantage in this kind of work, as anyold derrick that is strong enough to pump a well is with these hollowstems strong enough to clean it out, and also the same power which isused for pumping is strong enough for handling my device.

In operating my devices the tools are lowered into the well until thethrashing arms C C are opposite the cavity made by the explosion, thelower link D being held stationary by the anchorage of its subjacentstem or stems ou the bottom ot' the well. Then as the upper link B ischnrncd up and down by the mechanism at the top of the well, the link Dremains stationary, and causes the arms C C to be violently thrown outtheir full length into the cavity which, as before stated, agitates thesand and fluid substances and keeps them in motion, causingr them toiiow into the pocket so that the bailer or sand pump can remove them.There is no waiting for the sand to slowly gravitate into the pocket,but the operation is continuous and the sand is all removed, and whenthe well is thus once thoroughly cleaned there is no necessity forcleaning again until a nitro-glycerinc cartridge is again used.

I am aware that in rotary reamers or drills the cutting bits have beenadjusted out with a radial swing and held there to cut a larger cavitythan the well. I make no claim to drilling tools or such expandingreamers with cutting edges. My arms have no cutting edges, are muchlonger, and simply act vlike iiails with a continuous thrashing actionto serve a different purpose.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isf- An agitator for oil well cavitiesconsisting of two linked sections having a sliding inotion one over theother; in combination with radially swinging thrashing arms C Cpivotally hung in the upper link section, to lie in the plane of thelower link section and be thrown out by impact therewith when the upperlink section is lowered substantially as shown and described.

THOMAS Il. GALLAGl-IER.

Vitnesses:

JOHN B. Boss, WAYNE M. CROFP..

